Disclaimer; 99 percent of the stuff in this story I don't own

A/N; I am soooooooooo unbelievably sorry that I haven't updated for so long, but everything was going sweet and then my life had to go and get 10 hundred times busier. But I have made the extra special effort of getting you guys an update. Please don't hate me because I have left it so long, I really do feel terrible about it. ~D.B

Oh and I would like to dedicate this chapter to my very good friend Kelly Neptunus who is the best and I want to say thanks to Kel for being my friend!

And Then You'll Know

Chapter 22

"18 are you ok?" asked Tarie as she walked across the room, "you look sick". She noticed the sheet of paper in by 18's side and thought that maybe it had something to do with her sudden mood change, but when she reached out to grab it 18's hand darted our and took it. Clutching it close to her chest, 18 gave Tarie a dirty look, "this is mine" she hissed.

"Ok then," said Tarie sympathetically, it was obviously something 18 wanted to keep private, and she wasn't one to pry "wanna talk about it?"

"No, let's go downstairs. I'm sleepy"

***

After a long, cold night, the sun began to rise over Vegeta-sei, it was however, over run by a thick band of dark rain clouds. The result was a dark, gloomy, miserable day on the planet. The type where you would like nothing more than to stay in bed all day and let the bad weather pass. But unfortunately for some, they didn't have the luxury of staying in bed all, they had things to do, places to be, people to meet.

It was 7.30 when Chi-chi's alarm went off, she sat up, yawned, stretched and eventually gathered up enough strength to pull herself out of the bed. Her stomach was rumbling, telling her it was time for breakfast, she needed to eat something. Slipping into a comfy pair of pale pink sweatpants and a white tank top, she headed off towards the dining hall.

It was oddly quiet at the breakfast table that morning. Only Chi-chi, her father and Queen Kahlia were eating. Chi-chi had thought that with her brothers gone, things would be peaceful around the palace, but she was wrong, it wasn't peaceful, it was just plain boring. There was no one to talk to – besides Bulma of course, but she was usually busy working in the lab during the days. There was no one but 18 for her to pick on, and even Chi-chi had to admit that there was only so much torture you could put one through before it became nothing more than boring. But worst of all there was no one there to love her and hold her and kiss her – and she had become extremely addicted to kissing Kakkarot. Of course her father was there, and Chi-chi knew he loved her, but that wasn't the type of love she was craving – and it had only been one day.

Kakkarot was her first boyfriend – he was the first boy who had ever managed to catch her attention and keep it. Bulma said it was because she wasn't officially of age yet – she was only 20 to be of age of Vegeta-sei, you had to be 21. Bulma was already of age, in fact, in a few weeks she would be 22 and she said that when you turned 21 it was like your hormones all exploded. Everything that didn't seem that interesting before suddenly became fascinating and all you wanted to do was see whether it really was that great or not.

Of course that wasn't to say that you couldn't experience all of that before you were 21, but according to Bulma it all became so much better once you were.

Chi-chi sighed absent mindedly, if things were with Kakkarot were going to get better when she turned 21, she couldn't wait – she already felt like she was in heaven when she was with him. Could things really get better than that?


"You seems happy to day Chi-chi" said Kahlia from across the table. Chi-chi looked at her and smiled – she was so pretty. Her pale pink hair was shining in what little morning sunlight there was, she was wearing a full length red silky dress with black flowers on it, it was beautiful. "I was just thinking" she replied. Chi-chi knew that today was the last day Queen Kahlia would be spending on the planet, she had to return home, after spending just over a month with the Sayians. She had come to Vegeta-sei to help the King plan the revolt against Frieza, and now that the Sayians had left, she had to as well.

37 men from Bindoon – Kahlia's home planet were also going to going to Namek bringing the total up to 70 men. The Sayian spaceship would be docking on Bindoon approximately 72 hours after it left Vegeta-sei to collect her troops, then it was off on the epic 2-week journey to Namek. And if it all went to plan when Frieza got there, they would be ready and waiting.

***

By the time 18 had finished her usual every day jobs it was well into the afternoon, but she was far from finished yet, she was expected to go out into the garden and weed. She hated to weed, it was dirty and horrible and there were bugs! You would think that after living at the very bottom of the palace, with all sorts or rodents and spiders that she would be able to handle a few measly bugs. But no, not 18. Every mouse, ran, spider or worm that ever happened to cross paths with her found out what it was like to be disintegrated by a very hot ball of energy.

Walking out into the garden, she smiled. She could see Tarie down on her hands and knees, already there was a decent sized pile of weeds next to her.

"Hi" she said as she sat down next to Tarie, almost immediately she noticed there was something about her friend that was not quiet right, "you ok?"

Tarie shook her head and gave 18 a weak smile,18 could tell instantly that it was fake and that Tarie was not 'ok"

"Tarie why are you lying to me?" she asked, but she didn't get a reply.

Tarie's whole world was spinning, she put her hands on head but that didn't work, the dizziness didn't subside, it wouldn't go away, in fact, Tarie was sure it was getting even worse. Why was this happening – she had no idea, but there was nothing she could do about it. Slaves had no access to medical attention, they just had to grin and bare it, but this was getting beyond a joke now, it had been going on for almost a month now. Suddenly Tarie felt her stomach muscles contract and she faintly heard 18 tell her that if she was going to vomit to please do it in the garden, and that was exactly what she did.

18 turned her head away from Tarie, the mere sight of vomit made her feel queasy, but she couldn't just walk away from her friend who very obviously needed her help. Once Tarie had finished, 18 lead her to a near by bench and sat her down.

"Now are you going to tell me what's wrong or not?" she asked

"Nothing's wrong"

"Bloody hell Tarie, I went through this yesterday with 17. I know you are lying to me, you were just sick and you made a right mess of yourself, now tell me, what's wrong" Tarie shuddered, she was cold and scared.

"Can we go inside first? I need to clean myself up"

"Fine" 18 replied, "I'll take you to Krillen's room"

Once they arrived at Krillen's room, 18 shut and locked behind them. "Take you shirt off" demanded 18. Tarie's eyes widened "what?"

"Do you want me to wash that or not?" asked 18

"Oh ok" said Tarie and she threw her shirt at 18, who took it into the bathroom and proceeded to fill the basin up with warm water. Looking around she smiled, she had failed to come in here yesterday, she had now found that Krillen had left several more gifts in here for her.

Once the shirt was clean 18 walked out onto Krillen's balcony and draped it over the banister. Then she walked inside and threw open Krillen's closet, she found an old shirt and threw it at Tarie "Put that on" she said.

"But…but it's Krillen" Tarie protested.

"Krillen is in outer space, I don't think he's gonna mind" argued 18, Tarie shrugged her shoulders and slipped into the shirt.

"Now, talk to me"

Tarie sighed, as much as she didn't want to talk about this, she knew it would be good to get it off her chest. "18, I think….I think I.." she broke off then and started to cry. 18 put her hand on Tarie's back in a comforting gesture, "C'mon, it's alright, tell me" she urged.

"I think I might be pregnant 18!" she cried. 18's eyes bulged and her jaw dropped, this was some big news, but she quickly regained her cool. Yelling and screaming at Tarie would only make it worse.

"I assume it's 17's?" she asked, hoping against hope that it was. 17 would kill the both of them if it wasn't. Tarie nodded her head "It's his"

"Well does 17 know about this?" asked 18, already guessing that her brother had no idea "he had a right to know Tarie"

Tarie's face paled and 18 felt her shudder, "I haven't told him yet, I'm scared of what he'll do to me" she admitted through her tears.

18 shook her head, she knew what she meant, 17 would either be happy and supportive, or he would try and kill her – it was either one extremity or the other, but he still deserved to know. "Tarie, 17 needs to know and if you don't tell him, then I will"

"No 18, you can't tell him" Tarie's voice was filled with alarm, "I'll tell ho, I swear, just give me a little bit more time"

"Ok," 18 replied sceptically "but if you haven't told him by tomorrow night then I'm going to"

"Alright" Tarie snivelled as she wiped at her eyes with her hand.

***

"Radditz!" called Bardok from the bottom of the stairs, "get down here"

"Alright alright alright, I'm coming" he said as he trudged down the stairs

"Where is your brother?" asked Neha, "we are going to be late to the palace"

"Relax mum, we are not going to be late, we still have half an hour. And I'm pretty sure Tules is outside already"

Bardok clapped his huge hands together and grinned "alright then, let's go!"

They all piled into the car and headed off up the big hill that lead to the palace, they were going to be joining the King and Chi-chi for dinner, they seemed to be spending a lot of time at the palace lately.

"Why are we going to the palace? Kakkarot is the only one who has any connections there?" asked Tules as he stared blankly out window of the car. Neha turned to look at him and gave him an angry glare, "we are going because Chi-chi and the King are lovely people and we have been invited to join them. And you will be polite and courteous and on you're best behavior when we are there, and that goes for both of you!" she warned.

"Yes mum" both Radditz and Tules replied in unison.

***

Chi-chi slipped into a pair of dark blue jeans, a fitted black tee shirt and a denim jacket that fell to her knees. She found a pair of black ankle boots and pulled them on. Then she pulled her hair into a messy bun and headed towards the throne room to meet her father.

"Hello daddy" called Chi-chi in a sing song voice as she walked into the throne room, "how are you?"

"I'm fine thank-you dear" replied the King as got out of this throne and walked to the window, looking outside and up to the sky. It had started out as a dreary morning, but by lunchtime, the weather had cleared and become fine. The sun was beginning to set now, and the sky was a lovely shade of pink.

"The Son's should be here soon, should they not?" he asked as he rubbed his beard.

Chi-chi looked down at her watch, "yes, they should. Perhaps we should make our way to the front parlour to wait for them" she suggested

"Ok then, that seems like a good idea, let's go"

The King and his daughter headed down many halls towards the front of the palace, it was quite a long walk, since the palace was so big, but they managed to get there before the Son's arrived.

The front parlour was a small room just off the main entrance to the palace, it was a fairly large room, with peachy colored walls, and lots of big, soft furniture. It was a happy room to be in, and was designed to make visitors to the palace feel more comfortable. It wasn't hard for a visit to the palace to be a very intimidating experience; after all they were the royal family. This room was meant to take some of the sting off meeting the royal family. To make it more an intimate meeting instead of a formal gathering in the throne room.

Chi-chi ran her hands down the length of her tail, smoothing down the soft brown fur growing off the appendage. Sitting down on a cushy, caramel colored leather sofa, she crossed one long leg over the other, checking her watch as she did so.

It was 10 to five.

Casting her glance out the window the pink that had been present in the sky 20 minutes ago had faded, giving way to several shaded of blue she could now see – soon though, they would also fade and only the black sky of night would be seen.

"Ah em" the old man in the doorway cleared his throat as he pushed open the door to the parlor, "Mr. and Mrs. Son have arrived.

"Very well," replied the King "show them through"

A few minutes later, Bardok, Neha, Radditz and Tules all walked through the door

"Well isn't this a lovely little room commented Neha as Chi-chi stood up and shook her hand.

"Yes, we are all quite fond of it. My mother designed and furnished this room, everything you see here is her doing"

Neha took another observing look around, nodding her head in approval, "I can see your mother had very beautiful taste"

"My mother was an amazing woman, nothing she did ever failed" said Chi-chi with a smile "good evening, Tules, Radditz". Both of the boys smiled and nodded.

"Boys!" scolded Bardok, "The princess is speaking to you, be polite and answer her. We didn't raise wild animals with no manners. We raised boys"

Even though they clearly weren't children anymore, Tules was 25 and Radditz was 27. Both were grown men, yet sometimes they had the maturity of 10-year-olds.

Chi-chi smiled at them, "Please, won't you sit down, someone will be in shortly with some snacks". She was baffled. Time and time again she had done to the Son household and each and every time both Radditz and Tules had been perfectly normal and totally themselves. "You know, you don't have to act so uptight. This is nothing more than just a house"

Tules snorted through his noes "Are you kidding Chi-chi, this is the palace!"

"But, you come here often" Chi-chi argued

"Yeah, but when we come here it's not usually to eat with the King and his very attractive daughter exclusively" said Radditz

Chi-chi sat down on the sofa between the two boys "You know, it'll help if you don't think about it like that. After all," she stood up and took a few steps back, "it's just dinner"

***

18 stood behind Tarie with her hands on her shoulders. They were gazing upon the big set of wooden doors that would lead them through to the slave quarters, never had these doors intimidated Tarie as much as they were right now. She knew what, or rather – who, was on the other side of the doors, and she knew what she had to do once she walked through them. It was something she was not looking forward to.

But she couldn't turn back, not now. The first reason being – it had to be done, she had to tell 17 the news that would eventually become unavoidable anyway. And the second thing preventing Tarie from turning and running was the fact that 18 had a good hard grip on her shoulders, she knew 18 had placed them there as a comforting gesture, but to her it felt like iron clamps coming down on her and securing her fate.

In the room, 17 lay on his back, his hands resting behind his head, staring straight up at the ceiling – a million thoughts running through his head. It had been a busy day for him, he had done much more than he was usually used to doing, and right now he was struggling to even keep his eyes open.

He could feel himself on the brink of sleep, but something kept him awake, he could feel, or rather sense Tarie's energy signal hovering just outside the door and he was eager to find out why she was hesitating.

As if on cue, he heard the door being pushed open and the faint muttering of two women coming from the front room. It was only a matter of seconds before the two girls were in his line of sight, though only one of them approached him.

Sitting up and surveying the scene in front of him, he slowly blinked his tired eyes. Tarie was slowly, very slowly walking towards him, he smiled warmly at her urging her to come to him. The other woman was none other than his sister, she had stopped at the archway, which lead to this particular part of the complex and was casually leaning against the cold cobblestone arch. Her usually blank expression was however, anything but casual, it was etched with hard lines of concern and worry and that alone alarmed 17.

"What's going on?" he asked slowly and in full seriousness. When Tarie didn't answer him, his heart began to beat a little faster and 18 supplied the words that failed to come out of her mouth "Tarie has something to tell you" she said and she walked off.

Once again, 17's eyes rested on Tarie, not knowing what she was going to say. Slowly, she sat herself down on the bed she and 17 shared. She couldn't look 17 in the eyes and she could only manage to give him a weak smile that wasn't very reassuring at all. "What's the matter?" he asked as he took Tarie's cold clammy hands in his own.

"I...um....17...I-I-I-I can't do this" Tarie's chest was heaving as she panted from lack of breath and she leapt off the bed, but before she could even take a single step, 17 was holding onto her wrist and 18 was blocking the doorway.

"Tarie, remember what we talked about" 18 warned Tarie, who was dangerously close to tears. "I remember" she sniveled as she sat back down and 18 once again vanished around the corner.

"It's ok" soothed 17, having no idea exactly what he was about. Tarie couldn't keep it bottled up inside her any longer, she decided there and then, right at that second, that she was going to tell 17. She looked him in the eye with a look of absolute determination and....

She lost it just as quickly as it had come.

Then the tears came, and 17 had no choice but to bundle Tarie up in his arms and hold her, gently kissing the top of her head, he whispered sweet little nothings into her ear until she managed to find her voice again.

"You wanna talk about it now?" 17 asked as he wiped the reaming tears of Tarie's cheeks.

"Please don't be mad 17" she pleaded. 17 blinked, what was there to be mad about?

"Talk to me Tarie" he urged.

"I think I'm....well I think we might be pregnant" she whispered, her confession was to emotionally draining for her voice to be any more audible.

17's face paled to the point where it resembled a piece of paper "What?" he asked, "You've got to be kidding me right"

Tarie shot 17 piercing look with her stunning green eyes "Does it look like I'm kidding you?"  

17 couldn't believe what he was hearing – this was not what he had expected, at all. It couldn't be true, it just couldn't happen, not to him, to Tarie. They couldn't raise a child, especially in these type of living conditions, it just wasn't feasible.

"We can't keep it" the words came out of 17's mouth before he had a chance to think through the impact of his words.

"Well what other choices do we have?" Tarie cried, her voice cracked and broken from the tears.

"I don't know, but we have to come up with something!" 17 threaded his hands through his jet-black hair and pulled at it as hard as he could.

In the next room, 18 closed her eyes and let out a long sigh – she hated having to be the one to put them through this, but it needed to be done and she wasn't one to put things off until another day. She had learned along time ago to live for the here and now and that was exactly what she was going to do.

She was sitting cross-legged on Nison's bed, clutching his limp pillow in a bear hug. She knew what Tarie was going through, growing up in the Harem, she saw many a girl fall pregnant. Of course, the King would not tolerate girls who were less than physically perfect in his Harem, and pregnant girls were far from perfect. Add that with the fact that the King was not a very humane man, and you got the result. When girls in the Harem got pregnant, that was it, they were booted out on the streets with nothing more than the clothes on their backs, left to fend for themselves. 18 thanked her lucky stars that it wasn't her.

She was snapped out of her thoughts of the past by someone waving their hand across her line of sight, "Hello 18, are you in there?" it was Nison

She blinked "Yeah, what?" she asked. Nison laughed loudly and perched himself next to 18, "What's going on in there?" he asked, his tone suddenly serious as he pointed into the next room.

"You don't wanna know, and I don't wanna tell you" was 18's reply

"Oh, so it's one of those situations"

18 raised an eyebrow and nodded in the affirmative, "Uh-huh"

Suddenly 17 came storming out of the room, 18 only caught a glimpse of her brother before he disappeared out the door, but he looked pissed, like a kind of white hot fury had washed over him. He could quiet possibly be a very dangerous man right now. "Nison, follow him" 18 ordered, her tone deadly serious. In a flash, Nison was gone.

18 cast her eyes in the other direction, Tarie was standing there looking deathly pale, her hands clasped across her chest and her whole body quivering. There were very obvious tearstains streaking down her cheeks and fresh tears were following the path their predecessors had made.

18 patted the spot on the bed beside her and in one swift movement Tarie was besides her sobbing like a child.

"He hates me!" she cried "he hates me and he hates our baby"

18 rolled her eyes, she wasn't really the time of person to expect sympathy from "That's nonsense. I know my brother and he just needs time to cool off. It's a big shock for him"

"And you think it's not a shock for me?" Tarie snapped, causing 18 to jump in shock. She thought for a few seconds before she replied "Of course it is, but look at it from his perspective. He's only 19 – still a child himself, and before you go and tell me that you are in exactly the same situation, I already know," she stopped to take a breath "You were born with maternal instincts, all women are. But 17...well he knows nothing of how to father a baby, we never had a father. He's confused and scared and shocked. Just give him some time ok. Nison's with him now, so you don't have to worry about him doing anything stupid, and I'll talk to him later"

Tarie took a few deep shuddering breaths and looked at 18 through bright green eyes, made even shinier with tears, "Thank-you" she whispered as her heavy eyelids closed.

***

A/N; Oooooooh, things are starting to heat up. What's going to happen next? Find out in the next chapter of A.T.Y.K.

P.S Please review!

~D.B